Labour MPs have passed a motion of no confidence in Jeremy Corbyn 172 votes to 40. There were 216 votes cast (out of 229 Labour MPs).
This means that the Labour leader will continue to serve without the support of a majority of his MPs. Unless he decides to resign, he will lead Prime Minister’s Questions for the Opposition tomorrow as normal. I have spoken to the key plotters against the Labour leader, and though they considered not turning up to tomorrow’s session, they have decided that the most important thing for backbenchers to be doing is to be holding the government to account, even if their frontbench is incapable of doing so.
The more important question is who will Corbyn’s opponents stand as a candidate against him. The two main players are Angela Eagle and Tom Watson, both of whom would be better than Corbyn, which is the key test. Most Labour MPs are adamant that if Corbyn does have to be on the ballot paper, then his opponents can only mount one challenger in order to gain the most votes from members.
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